Texas won and Baylor lost.
No surprises there.
But aside from the fifth-ranked Longhorns’ 66-47 victory over the Bears behind a career-high 37 points from Daniel Gibson, Saturday’s results gave little indication that any sort of order might be settling over the conference.
Case in point: The 25th-ranked team in the country is tied for fifth in the conference.
Behind Texas, which improved to 4-0, three teams – Kansas State, Missouri and Colorado – are 3-2 in Big 12 play. No. 25 Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma State are a half-game back at 2-2, and three more teams – Texas A&M, Texas Tech and Iowa State – are within another half-game at 2-3.
Baylor, at 0-4, does not have a conference victory – or a win this season, as the NCAA prohibited the Bears from playing any nonconference games because of violations under previous coach Dave Bliss.
And the Big 12’s surging team is no longer Missouri, which started the Big 12 season 3-1. It’s Kansas State, which is on its first three-game conference winning streak in 10 years after beating the Tigers, 79-64, on Saturday night.
“Right now our team is really unselfish,” Wildcats coach Jim Wooldridge said. “We have everybody playing. There is no star-type attitude. We have guys that are really working it, and that is a good sign.”
Sixty miles to the east on I-70, Kansas rebounded from an uncharacteristic two-game conference losing streak to rout Nebraska, 96-54, behind 17 points each from Brandon Rush and Jeff Hawkins.
That prompted cheers of, “Just like FOOT-ball!” in the closing minutes – a reference to the Jayhawks’ 40-15 gridiron victory over Nebraska in November, which broke a 36-game losing streak to the Cornhuskers and had tearful fans hugging Kansas players as they ran off the field.
Two of Saturday’s games – Colorado’s 80-78 victory over Oklahoma State, and Texas A&M’s 86-81 triumph over Iowa State – went to overtime. And the visiting team won in each of those games, giving Colorado its first victory at Gallagher-Iba Arena since Jan. 12, 1980.
Oklahoma beat Texas Tech, 60-48, in the other game, with Michael Neal returning from a thumb injury to score 15 points and hit four late three-pointers for the Sooners (11-4, 2-2).
“When the game got tight, out of every timeout we would run something for Michael,” OU coach Kelvin Sampson said.
Jarrius Jackson’s 19 points led Texas Tech (10-9, 2-3).
Oklahoma wasn’t the only team to get a strong comeback performance.
David Hoskins, who had scored only eight points in Kansas State’s previous three games, had 18 against Missouri. He provided an offensive spark after leading scorer Cartier Martin went to the bench with foul trouble early in the first half.
“We know David is a great player,” said Martin, who led the Wildcats (12-4, 3-2) with 20 points. “He went through a little slump the last couple of games, but he’s getting his confidence back and is doing some great things for us.”
Thomas Gardner, the Big 12’s leading scorer, had 21 points for Missouri (10-6, 3-2), but was frustrated by Kansas State’s physical defense.
“We’ll get them back when they come to play at Missouri,” he said.
